Shares drop in Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct

Shares in Sports Direct, Britain’s biggest sportswear retailer — which late last year agreed to buy retailer Heatons here — fell almost 6% yesterday after its founder said the company’s profits would fall this year.

Mike Ashley, who is deputy chairman of Sports Direct and holds 55% of its equity and who also owns Newcastle United, told The Times: “We are in trouble, we are not trading very well. We can’t make the same profit we made last year.”

Sports Direct made core earnings of £383.2m (€490.4m) in the year to April 26, 2015.